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The field of smartphones is so full of thoroughbreds and budget-friendly dark horses alike, it’s hard to know where to put your money. The author describes several safe bets and offers a side-by-side comparison of features that you’ll want track-side when making your next purchase.

Even with the improvement of breath-test technology, concerns remain about the reliability of preliminary breath test (PBT) results. Thus, the Wisconsin Legislature and Supreme Court have erected barriers to using the results at trial as evidence of defendants’ intoxication. Recent court decisions provide guidance when litigating these matters.

Proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, if approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, will take effect in December 2015. The Wisconsin and federal rules are different, but a trend to conform Wisconsin procedural rules to their federal counterparts may herald significant change in how state judges and lawyers proceed in civil matters.

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This annual report looks at what’s going on in the legal profession in the United States and in other parts of the world. The author believes law firms that acknowledge change and address it, will survive stronger and more profitable than ever.

Borrowing a page from Robert Denney’s global look at trends in the legal profession, Wisconsin and regional attorneys and practice management experts weigh in on practice and marketing trends in the Dairy State.

Changes in technology and business models have caused increased competition for lawyers, from both other attorneys and nonlawyer legal services providers. Lawyers who evolve and adapt to the new paradigms are creating success and profits; those who don’t may be squandering opportunities.

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Reinstituting programs that allow prison inmates to be released early for good behavior is a cost-effective and safe way to reduce prison populations and decrease the likelihood that former inmates will commit more crimes once released.

Dramatically changing electric-rate designs and unprecedented expansions of the state’s transmission system underscore the importance of understanding the Public Service Commission’s workings and of knowing how to help your clients be heard in matters it oversees.

Nothing can take the adversariness out of litigation but you can avoid the cat-and-mouse tactics of burying a party in discovery requests. Preparing and using an e-discovery plan can help keep the focus on the underlying legal dispute instead of on wading through unnecessary bytes of data.

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Reinstituting programs that allow prison inmates to be released early for good behavior is a cost-effective and safe way to reduce prison populations and decrease the likelihood that former inmates will commit more crimes once released, says Marquette University Law Professor Michael O'Hear.

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Several women lawyers discuss some of the things that make it possible for them to succeed as professionals and as parents: governmental and workplace family-leave policies, supportive spouses, parents, and colleagues, technology, and the willingness to set priorities at those inevitable times when they can’t have and do it all.

No matter your practice area or the number of attorneys in your organization, the 10 legal technology innovations outlined here affect you. No matter the size of your bank account, you can’t afford to ignore them.

Lawyers representing any of the parties in worker’s compensation, insurance, or personal injury matters must ensure that the recovery rights, if any, of Medicare Advantage Plans are identified and protected during claim processing or litigation.

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Whether your practice overlaps with tribal law, this general orientation will help Wisconsin lawyers understand the history and current status of American Indians and their tribes’ self-governance and law in the United States. The authors provide contact information for Wisconsin’s 11 tribes for lawyers interested in gaining admission to practice in tribal courts.

Wisconsin’s family law statutes presume that a couple’s property will be equally divided at separation or divorce. Marital waste is one factor that may allow a deviation from this presumption, but different courts treat marital waste in various ways. Here are some strategies for effectively representing divorcing clients who may have wasted marital assets, or who believe their spouse wasted assets and are seeking compensation in support or the division of marital assets and debts.

Recent cases have led attorneys and courts to focus on obstreperous conduct during the discovery process. This article identifies the intersection between the discovery rules and the rules of professional responsibility and then focuses specifically on how professional responsibility applies to the deposition process – from noticing the deposition, to preparing the witness, to taking and defending the deposition, to post-deposition practices.

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May 6, 2015 – New innovations allow attorneys to reach people “who we traditionally have not been able to provide services for because of the … expansion of technology,” says William Hubbard, president of the American Bar Association.

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As a successful international business and finance lawyer and a dedicated human rights advocate, Walter White Jr. did not grow up respecting the rule of law. Rather, he grew up respecting the lawyers who changed the law to make it more just. His experiences growing up amid myriad injustices informed his advocacy for human rights and encouraging diversity within the legal profession.

The business judgment rule – that directors are not liable for an honest mistake of business judgment – is both a rule of substantive law and often the source of procedural burdens that shareholders challenging a board of directors’ decision must overcome. The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently reinforced the doctrine, making clear that shareholder-plaintiffs must be ready from the moment they file to present plausible evidence of their right to relief.

Employers must pay an overtime rate to employees for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. However, some employees are exempt because of their work duties and salary amount. This poses a problem for many low-paid managers in the retail and food-service industries who are classified as exempt but whose yearly income is close to the poverty level.

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America’s Dairyland also prizes its lakes and rivers. But as high-capacity wells proliferate in Wisconsin, agriculture and other groundwater users are posing risks to the amount and health of the water, bringing to the legal forefront disagreements about access to the waters that lie beneath.

In Wisconsin, the question is unsettled as to whether a lawyer retained to administer a probate estate or a trust represents the fiduciary or the estate. Similarly, the law is unsettled as to the duties the lawyer owes to the beneficiaries. These are important concerns. Here’s why.

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Good fences make good neighbors; bad ones might lead neighbors into court to battle over mismarked boundaries and “true” ownership of property. Jessica Shrestha overviews adverse possession, and what lawyers should consider.